Gertrude of Northeim


Gertrude of Northeim , was the daughter of Henry, Margrave of Frisia. Gertrude was heiress of Bentheim and Rheineck. She married first Siegfried I of Weimar-Orlamünde and then Otto I, Count of Salm.

Life

Gertrude was born around 1090. She was the daughter of Henry, Margrave of Frisia and Gertrude of Brunswick, daughter of Egbert I of Meissen. Gertrude had two full siblings: Otto III of Northeim, who succeeded her father, and Richenza, who married the future Emperor Lothair II. From her mother’s second marriage, to Henry I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark, Gertude also had a half-brother, Henry II, Margrave of Meissen.

First Marriage

Gertrude’s first husband was Siegfried of Ballenstedt. Though marriage to Siegfried, Gertrude was countess palatine of the Rhineland, and countess of Weimar-Orlamünde. Gertrude had three children with Siegfried:
After Siegfried’s death in 1113, Gertrude married again. Her second husband was Otto I, Count of Salm, son of the German anti-king Hermann of Salm. Part of the reason Gertrude married Otto was to secure a male protector for her underage sons, Siegfried II and William.
With Otto, Gertrude had several children, including:
After the deaths of her son, Otto II, in 1148, and her husband, Otto I, in 1050, Gertrude ruled the county of Bentheim herself, and ensured that her daughter, Sophia, retained possession of Rheineck.